Filed To Story: Chasing the Rejected Luna's Heart (Clara & Liam) Book PDF Free
My face turned red hot as I took the shirt. I reluctantly pulled off my tank top and put on the shirt, realizing my former idea of skintight needed some revision. I looked down and realized the shirt didn’t even cover my midriff, and the rips were placed strategically to show off as much skin as possible without being illegal.”Fits like a glove,” she said, walking closer to put her hands in my hair and rough up the dark blue waves a little, pulling them around my shoulders. She paused to examine her handiwork. “There.””Am I a waitress or a stripper?” I asked dryly.
She just flashed me a wicked grin. “A little of both,” she admitted. “But if anyone gets handsy, feel free to break their fingers. We have a strict no touching the merchandise policy.””Fingers. Right,” I said, not so sure I was cut out for this all of a sudden.
The bell over the door out front chimed out front and Sam jumped up. “Oh, that’s the UPS guy with the new glasses. Go ahead and look around, get familiar with the place. I’ll be back in a second.””Sure,” I said, even though she was already through the doors. I looked around the kitchen and decided to get acquainted. Something told me washing dishes was about to become my favorite part of the night.
* * *
I had been working at the Coyote Den for a little over a week, and I’d decided that tomorrow was the day I finally moved, since Mondays were by far the least busy day at the bar, according to Sam.
It wasn’t like it would take me more than ten, maybe twenty minutes total. I had packed my entire life up into a single bag, so I didn’t have a ton of furniture or anything like that. I wasn’t sure what was holding me back, really. Maybe the fact that as soon as I had been dropped off at the Plaza, there was part of me that was convinced it was just temporary. That Dad was going to call or send a car for me any moment to bring me back from whatever bizarre lesson this whole thing was supposed to be.
The more time that passed, the clearer it became that was nothing more than a delusion. He wasn’t coming for me. No one was. If I wanted to rebuild the shattered pieces of my life, I was the only person I could count on to do it.
Sunday night had been weirdly busy, considering it was the end of the weekend, but something told me more than a few of our regulars didn’t have typical 9-to-5 jobs. I was starting to be able to pick out the shifters by sight rather than having to wait until I was close enough to catch their scent. I was getting a little better at recognizing what kind of shifter they were, too.
The big redhead who always sat at the far end of the bar and always ordered a whiskey sour as soon as he plopped down was a tiger shifter, and he looked the part. There was something in his piercing green gaze that always set me on edge, even if he was one of the more polite customers and always tipped generously.
Then there was the pack of gorgeous women who were just kicking off a bridal shower at the long table in back, giggle-snorting over mojitos and gently ribbing their friend in a sparkly crown veil with plastic letters on top marking her as the bride. They were foxes, and given the way Sam rolled her eyes as soon as they came in and immediately ducked into the back, leaving me to take their orders, I could guess there was some interspecies rivalry there. Or at least a personal one. They were hell-bent on getting as sloshed as possible, though, and drunks were generous tippers, so I wasn’t about to complain.
My first night on the job, I had pocketed two-hundred bucks, which wouldn’t have seemed like much to me even a week ago, but that was before I had any frame of reference for how much it actually cost to survive in the real world. Now, I felt like I had won the lottery.
It would still be a few months at the very least before I made as much as Liam had stuffed into my bag without me looking. I still needed to find a way to get that back to him without initiating any more contact than I wanted. I could always stuff it into an envelope and send it through the mail, but that seemed risky at best. Sending it digitally would require depositing the funds in some kind of bank account, and I was still in survival mode, so that kind of errand was the furthest thing from my mind right now.
As the early evening crowd ebbed away to make room for the night owls, I used the brief lull in business as a chance to get caught up on cleaning the tables. Sam was in back taking an emergency phone call with a vendor, and between scrubbing gum off the plywood and that, I definitely got the better end of the deal.
The bell above the door chimed and I called, “Be right with you,” before going back to the table. Whoever it was didn’t answer, so I figured they would just seat themselves. Most of the customers did. Then I realized someone was standing right in front of me.
I looked up to find a tall stranger staring down at me. He had light brown hair with golden flecks and piercing golden eyes that were strangely familiar. To say he was handsome would’ve been an understatement. More like baby Tom Cruise, back in the Top Gun days. He had a strong jaw, full lips slightly set in a permanent smirk, and an apathetic gaze as he stood there, one hand slipped into the pocket of his designer suit, his top button popped to reveal a bit of the smooth, sculpted chest beneath. Just enough to set my imagination wild.”You must be the new help,” he said in a bored tone that matched his gaze.
I stood from leaning over the table and found myself wishing I hadn’t been quite so vigorous about scrubbing the surface, because I could feel my face was flushed and a thin sheen of sweat was forming on my forehead. A few blue strands stuck out from my high ponytail, and I instinctively smoothed them down after tucking the dirty rag into the pocket of my apron. I had sacrificed an old pair of jeans I wasn’t crazy about to make cutoffs that were a little more in line with the vibe the Coyote Den was going for. I could see why Sam liked the style. It was comfortable, and as hard as it had been to get used to it, the customers definitely responded to bare skin.”Hi,” I said, looking him up and down, pretty sure I knew who he was, too. I offered my hand. “I’m Lavinia. You must be-“”I know who you are. My sister told me all about you,” he said in a tone that made it clear he didn’t like what he had heard.
Damn, this guy was cold. Sam’s opposite in every way. I quietly withdrew my hand. “Sam’s been great.””I’m sure,” he sneered. “She always did like bringing home wounded baby birds.”
I blinked at him, not quite convinced I’d heard him correctly. The building anger in my gut was faster on the uptake, and if he wasn’t my boss, I would have had more than a few choice words for him. As it was, they dangled off the tip of my tongue, but before they could drop, the doors in the back swung open and Sam came striding out into the bar area, wiping what smelled like oil off her hands. Probably trying to service the cappuccino maker that kept crapping out.”Cole,” she said flatly, folding her arms. “Showing up at work before seven? Who died?””Charming as ever, sister,” he scoffed, walking past me as if he’d completely forgotten my existence. “Nice to see you haven’t burned the place to the ground.””What do you want?” she demanded, propping a hip against the side of the bar.”I just came by to warn you, the vamps are having one of their ‘parties.'”
The air quotes were audible in his tone. I couldn’t help but be curious, but I went back to cleaning the table and pretended I wasn’t listening.”Shit, are you serious?” she muttered. “Last week was bad enough.””There’s something else.” He paused and I got the feeling he was looking my way, but I didn’t glance up. “Come with me.”
With that, they both walked back into the kitchen and I waited until I heard the swinging doors fall shut with awhoomph to look up. What the hell was that about?
Not that I really had time to be worried about vampires when it was clear my new boss hated me for merely existing. That was pretty much the only thing I had done in his presence so far that could justify it.